Last Friday, President-elect Donald Trump irritated China by having a direct phone conversation with Taiwan’s President. Under the One-China-Policy, Taiwan is not officially a state (the UN doesn’t recognize Taiwan as an independent country), although in reality the island benefits from a certain political status quo and the Military protection from the US. 

“When you work in foreign affairs, you learn that a highly unexpected event is often the result of intent or incompetence In the Donald Trump era, we may need a third category—exploitation—which has elements of both”, writes Evan Osnos, author of The Age of Ambition. Chasing fortune, Truth and Faith in The New China. 

“It wasn’t clear how much he intended to abruptly alter geopolitics, and how much he was incompetently improvising. There is evidence of each; in either case, the way he did it is very dangerous”, he says.

“Playing the Taiwan card” puts in risk the relations between China and the US, and the two superpowers are in need to collaborate in issues like Climate Change and International Security. In addition, Osnos suggests – quoting the Chinese blog  Shanghaiist –, that Trump and his family are currently trying to win a lucrative contract with a Taiwanese city. Did Trump break nearly four decades of diplomatic practice to sweeten his family’s business prospects with Taiwan?

As reported in The New Yorker this weekend. Read more about the Chinese reactions to Trump's phone call with Taiwan in The Guardian.